H Venture Partners is launching a venture studio dedicated to discovering and commercializing microbiome technologies and materials to create startups.
The firm announced on Friday that it will seek out talent to address health issues such as depression, cancer, eczema, and neurodegenerative diseases. This initiative is partially funded by H Partner’s Fund II, which recently received a $10 million investment from the State of Ohio, bringing the fund to $24 million in total.
“We are tackling the top two threats to humanity,” said Elizabeth Edwards, the firm’s founder and managing partner, in an interview with TechCrunch. “Our primary focus is preventing antibiotic resistance, and our secondary focus is reversing climate change and eliminating petrol-based plastics.”
Edwards aims to invest in at least 13 early-stage companies, with investment amounts ranging from $500,000 to $1 million. H Venture Partners’ portfolio already includes companies like Felix Health and Parsley Health, with over $40 million in assets under management.
According to Pitchbook, companies with at least one female founder have raised more than $2 billion in the pharma and bio sector. Last year, such groups secured $5.4 billion out of the $18.4 billion invested in the sector overall.
Founded in 2017, H Ventures remains a female-founded, owned, and operated firm. It aims to support marginalized founders, with more than 90% of its portfolio invested in women and people of color. This new venture studio and fund will continue to advance the firm’s mission of promoting diversity and inclusion in biological sciences, a field where less than 2% of all venture funding goes to marginalized groups.
“If you think that investing in women is a bad idea, you’re missing half of the best opportunities in the world,” Edwards said, emphasizing the firm’s belief in “excellence through inclusion.”
